Why does Etienne go to work in the mine?

Germinal starts on a Monday of February 1865, in the middle of the night. A young man named Etienne Lantier arrives on foot at the Voreux mining pit from Marchiennes, a town located a few kilometers away. He is around 21 years old, skinny but strong-looking. He is a mechanic who has been fired from his job at the railroad for hitting his supervisor; he has been out of work for a while.